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Medical marijuana expansion sailing through Louisiana Legislature

Photos of seedlings from the first crop of medical marijuana being grown in Louisiana.(Photo: Courtesy LSU AgCenter)

A bill that would allow any condition to be treated with medical marijuana and any doctor in good standing to recommend it continued to build momentum in the Louisiana Legislature Wednesday with little resistance.

Members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved House Bill 819 by Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, to expand treatable conditions.

The bill has already secured full approval in the House and now heads to the full Senate for debate.

House Bill 819 also allows any medical doctor to recommend the medicine, removing the current restriction requiring physicians to go an extra step to get specific approval to recommend marijuana.

Doctors can't officially "prescribe" the medicine, but the recommendation acts as a prescription.

Senate Health Chairman Fred Mills, R-Parks, whose legislation ushered in the first laws making the medicine available to Louisiana patients during the last term, said he supports the expansion.

"A lot of good results have happened," Mills said. "Many more patients have said, 'Why not me?' Accessibility has become big issue."

Though the bill names nine new specific medical conditions that would become eligible for treatment, it opens up all conditions with the following line: "Any condition not otherwise specified in present law or proposed law that a physician, in his medical opinion, considers debilitating to an individual patient and is qualified through his medical education and training to treat."

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.